Friday, February 17, 2017

Must-haves in Your Healthcare “Arsenal”



OK, you’ve settled into, or settled for, your 2017 health care plan. For most of you the cost of coverage is up, the out of pocket maximum is higher, the network is smaller, and there were fewer options than the year before. It’s a pattern that, for those who are responsible for their own health care, has repeated itself for the last four years. If you’re 65 or older the picture is a little brighter but still, every health care plan requires some out-of-pocket costs when you use your coverage.
               
As more and more of the cost of care is shifted from the health care companies to you doesn’t it make sense to take control of your non-emergency health care costs? Fortunately, and in direct response to the ever-increasing cost of health care, there are a growing number of companies and services that are making it easier and cheaper to purchase care, treatment, and medications. So arm yourself with these resources and start saving every time that you require care. These companies are available through websites, phone apps, or telephone.

Here’s a list of no cost apps and websites to help make you a savvy patient:

Find medical providers, rate medical providers, learn about medical providers, view patient ratings, check accepted health care plans, or schedule an office visit

    Zocdoc.com – Zocdoc is a handy website and app that lets you find doctors, view patient ratings, view office visit availability, and schedule office visits through your phone or their website. It’s not foolproof, so if you are scheduling an office visit I suggest that you also call to confirm.
    Vitals.com – Vitals is a good site for finding medical providers and viewing patient ratings. Look for doctors by name, location or medical condition for which you need treatment.
    Healthgrades.com – Looking for a doctor or dentist? Trying to research hospitals in your area? Healthgrades, both a website and an app are for you. Fast and intuitive, you’ll have the information that you need in less than a minute.


Check your symptoms, get healthy, and stay healthy

    healthfinder.gov – This is an enormous government website but it is packed with good stuff. One of the best sections of the site lets you enter your age and then it displays all of the recommended “scheduled maintenance” and preventive care that you should be doing. Think of it as an owner’s manual for your body.
    Isabelhealthcare.com – Symptom checker – website and app that easily and quickly lets you enter your age, gender, and symptoms. It then pulls up a list of possible diagnoses. Warning: this is a good little research tool but always consult with your doctor before self-diagnosing or treating (WebMD also has an excellent symptom checker)
    Mediguard.org – This app and website are primarily for the purpose of monitoring your medications and warning of possible medication interactions. It also provides you with easy to understand health information, safety alerts, and recall information.
    MediSafe.com – Website and app. Like Medigard, MediSafe includes information about prescription interactions but this site is really for those patients who have a hard time complying with the proper use of their medications. Non-compliance is a big problem and medications won’t do a thing if they are unused and sitting in the medicine cabinet. You’ll know what pills you’ve taken and what pills are coming up for you. There are also gentle “nudges” in the app to remind you what to take and when.


Reduce the cost of prescription medications

    GoodRx.com – If you are uninsured or underinsured GoodRx can reduce your costs of medications. This website and app searches for your medications at all of the pharmacies in your area in real time. If a manufacturer is offering an incentive price  you can open it on your phone or print it from their website and apply it for savings. Even if you are insured the regular prices for many medications are often lower than your generic prescription copay on your health care plan. If GoodRx displays a lower price than your copay tell the pharmacist that you want the regular price displayed on GoodRx.
    PrescriptionHope.com – Not an insured product and not a discount resource, Prescription Hope is one of several prescription assistance plans. These are plans that are designed to help lower income (up to about $30,000 for individuals, $50,000 for couples) reduce the cost of high-priced medications. They cover about 1,500 different prescriptions and, if you qualify, your monthly payment is $35.00. With some of today’s newer medications costing hundreds or thousands  per month Prescription Hope can be a great tool to help you economize.


Reduce the costs health and dental care

    WalkinLab.com – Lab tests have some of the highest profit margins in all of medicine. WalkinLab acquires thousands of tests and then re-sells them at deeply discounted rates, up to 80% off. Pay for your test online or by phone, visit one of their contracted labs throughout the country and take your test. Better still, no doctor’s orders are needed for most tests and the test results are e-mailed to you, not your doctor. You could possibly avoid the cost of two doctor visits whenever you have a test performed. Curious about your lipid levels? Order your own test and only consult your doctor if the results come back outside the normal range.
    MediBid.com – Is MediBid the future of healthcare? This website exists for non-emergency patients to actually put their medical procedures out to bid. The patient creates a profile and a request for bids. Once the bidding process has been completed the patient may then accept a bid, connect with the provider, and schedule their procedure. When used in combination with the medical provider grading sites above the patient/consumer now has powerful tools at their disposal.
    SingleCare.com – SingleCare, a website and app, is a no-cost membership program that provides discounted rates for prescriptions, dental, eyewear, and telemedicine services. This young company is growing fast and will no doubt add more services and greater geographical reach over time. The site or app let you pick the type of service or medication and then it displays local providers and their pricing. There is even an online office visit scheduler for your convenience


Reduce the costs of expensive or non-covered procedures by visiting another state or country

    MDSave.com – This is another up and coming site and app that has not yet reached national scope but it’s worth a look. Similar to MediBid, MDSave lets you search by procedure, provider or disease. If you select disease for example, the site then displays common services (initial exam, full workup, etc) related to the disease and then displays pricing and providers of the service. Right now you may need to go a bit of a distance for treatment but this type of service can’t help but become national in its reach. The site even offers financing options. Imagine “purchasing” your hernia repair, adding it to your cart and checking out…just like purchasing that used lawnmower on your favorite website.
    MedRepublic.com – I’ve said many times before in these articles that medical costs in the US far exceed nearly every other industrialized nation in the world. It is not uncommon for procedures here to cost five to six times what they cost in other countries even though those countries have state-of-the art facilities with western-trained doctors. MedRepublic was started by a US doctor who recognized this differential in medical and dental costs. MedRepublic vets doctors and dentists around the world and provides a service for patients and their families to view the costs of procedures in other countries, view the information about the practices and the personnel including patient ratings, learn how many times the provider has performed the needed procedure, and then the site adds information about accommodations for the provider’s facility. Another very futuristic, forward looking service, most helpful for treatments and procedures that are not covered by your health care plan.

What’s it going to cost?

    guroo.com – Avoid sticker shock. This site uses information that has been compiled from hundreds of millions of medical claims to give you an indication of what the average costs of specific medical treatments will be in your area. It also gives the low to high range of costs so that you can do your research and know generally what a treatment or procedure should cost.


Well, that’s my baker’s dozen websites and apps for you. We hope that you never need medical care and that you are always in the peak of health. But when the need for care occurs you can use these tools to make the best possible decisions and possibly significantly reduce the cost of care.

Do you know of similar sites or apps that swing the balance of power to you, the patient? Let us know so that we can share the information and make all of us smarter, savvier consumers of health care. Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Alan Leafman, President
(800) 955-0418

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